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Dealing with son with CGI editing passion
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My son, 15, loves to edit his own filming and re-edit (imitate) the CGI effects of movies on his computer. It’s very minutia-type work and it take a long time for him to do a short scene.
My questions are:
- how much time daily do I allow on this?
he can be so absorbed and do it for hours. I’m having to enforce the “you must exercise this much time, read this much, etc” prior to any work done on this hobby, but then I am at a loss of how long I should actually allow him to spend on it.
- what future internships, apprenticeships, colleges, etc, should he and I be looking at to further this. He watches editing and rendering tutorials on his own, learning new things, reading how G. Lucas and P. Jackson and other special effects gurus did their trades.
Sadly, he doesn’t want to read books like he used to read anymore, just this. He says it takes so much time to do a small section that he wants to spend all his free time on it.
- Any book recommendations for this area of interest?
Also, I think I should document these hours (especially the tutorials he watches) into a Fine Arts or Computer Science category on his transcript. What do you think?
He’s also good at editing any filming he’s done for an event and/or putting together memorial videos. he’s got a knack for choosing good music to suit the mood.
Any advice for me?
Thanks.
My DC are into computer coding and making their own games. They also like to play around with stop animation or graphic arts programs. As long as they finish their schoolwork, chores, and get some outdoor time, I leave their free time up to them. My DS can spend hours on it one day, but then spend a few days working on another project. We are probably more lenient than other families with regard to screen time. I do encourage my DC to find multiple interests so they aren’t always staring at a computer screen.
I plan on adding it to their college transcripts, so I think that’s a great idea.
Like any skill or craft, mastery takes time … lots of time. Some say that full mastery of many skills takes around 10,000 hours!
The good news is that 3D modeling can be a marketable career skill. For example, it can be used for special effects both in movies and for business videos. Video is an exploding field because of the internet and there is a surprising amount of modeling work that can go into even videos that seem simple.
The same is true for software apps used for education, business, and games.
3D modeling is also used for still images. For example, if you look at our Learning and Living: Homeschooling the Charlotte Mason Way DVD Set page, the pictures of the products are not photographs but 3D models. It’s much easier to get a clear, crisp image that way than trying to get the setup and lighting just right on a photograph.
Our young adult son did those images for us, but first he had to put in all those hours of skill building as a teen, just as you described with your son.
By all means, do keep records. You might call it a computer graphics and modeling elective.
Online learning is probably the way to go for 3D modeling because books get out of date so quickly. However, you might also require some business and entrepreneurial books so your son can begin to learn how to market his skills.
@Holly: Thanks. I still limit his TV time to a fairly strong degree, but, as my son pointed out, his creative CGI work is akin to my dd’s drawing and creative story writing, which she can spend hours on as well.
So, yes, I am trying to get him to prioritize his chores, hygiene (i.e. actually changing out of his pajamas), education, and health. He can be obsessive (intense; uber-focused, whatever you want to call it)
@Doug: Thank you, too. I didn’t think about the entrepreneurial/business skills stuff prior to college, so that’s a good plan. I talked to him about going to classes to learn business management and related it to his CGI/video editing work.He absorbs the tutorials online.
Would the records just consist of the hours spent and resources used?
I thought that as he gets older, perhaps an apprenticeship and/or dual enrollment classes in college classes related to this field would be beneficial.
Just following along, my 11 year old is the same so we’ll be in the same place in 4 years! I too struggle with how much time he gets on the computer, because I don’t allow the others to play games, even educational ones for hours. My kids get 30 minutes a day of electronics, and I allow him another 30min-1hr for video editing, but I’m torn because I understand it takes a long time, and a lot of work, and that he could possibly do that for a living someday.
Your son is 15 so I know it’s much different with a teenager, but I usually have mine do free reading and outside time before he can use the computer for video editing time.
Yes, record keeping would just be hours and resources used. At some point you may come up with some number of credits to apply for a transcript.
Regarding some of the concerns with electronics, remember that those things are just tools that can be used in a variety of ways. Electronics or a screen does not automatically equal mindless entertainment.
It’s important that we teach our children to be creators more than consumers because then they have useful skills to make a living. When the tools at hand are used for creating then the effect on the person is totally different from an entertainment use.
What happens when a child has been limited to say 30 minutes of computer programming a day and he grows to be a professional software developer? Does that young adult know how to deal with using a computer all day to make a living? How would such a transition be made?
As an employer, I’d be much more likely to hire the young person who has been immersed in software development for years than one who has only been allowed to dabble in it.
Let’s say a child is into cooking, woodworking, auto mechanics, or other skill. Would any of us limit those to some very short time? Maybe or maybe not depending on the circumstances. Is some other skill so different because electronics are part of it? If we would place limits on only the activity with electronics would we then begin limiting the auto mechanic when his skill level requires learning to use a computerized diagnostic machine instead of just wrenches?
I’m not judging anyone’s choices but hopefully offering some food for thought. 🙂
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